Category Archives: Section

A Running List of CU Businesses Supporting White Supremacy

Offensive imagery is a big problem on our campus.  That is, the entrenched white supremacy that formed and birthed my institution of higher learning resists erasure in powerful ways.  Each year we see a familiar slew of problems – in residence halls, some students hang Confederate … Continue reading

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#BlackLivesMatter Protests Locally

Along with others across the nation, people of Champaign-Urbana have held protests, die-ins, and marches. Below are photos from some of the events. On Tuesday, November 25, CU Citizens for Peace and Justice held a demonstration outside of the county … Continue reading

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Groundswell Organizing and Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration

After President Obama signed his executive action on immigration last November, immigrant activists commended the president for his decision, which might help up to 4 million undocumented immigrants normalize their status, and at the same time emphasized that this action … Continue reading

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The Conundrum Over ISIS: The Issue of International Responsibility

In the November/December issue of the Public i, my colleague Susan Shoemaker wrote a very compelling article against the use of U.S. military strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.  After citing opinion polls finding that while 73% of Americans … Continue reading

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The Lessons Ebola Is Teaching

Greg Damhorst is an MD/PhD student in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . His graduate research involves the development of diagnostic technologies for HIV/AIDS. Greg is also a co-founder of the Global Health Initiative … Continue reading

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Why the Republicans Were So Successful in the Mid-Term Elections

It is obvious from the recent mid-term elections that the Democratic Party nation-wide is in crisis. The corporate media states that the Democratic Party must become more “centrist,” meaning that the Democratic Party needs to be more like the Republicans. … Continue reading

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American Exceptionalism and Our Newest War

Once upon a time, when I was a child growing up in 1950s America, I truly believed in American Exceptionalism, the idea that the United States is a virtuous country and unique among nations because of our revolutionary history, experimental … Continue reading

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Important Questions Related to the Steven Salaita Case at the U of I

For university faculty, when, if ever, is speech that includes what may be perceived as vulgar, discourteous or uncivil language protected from putative action by university administrators and/or boards of trustees? Is speech which uses such language, even swear words, … Continue reading

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A View on Bulldog Coal Mine from the Appalachian Mountains

“Support coal or sit in the dark.” That phrase is familiar in the coal-burdened areas of Central Appalachia, but now some who supported coal are finding themselves out of work, abandoned by coal—many too injured by coal mining to work … Continue reading

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Political Soccer: A Global Phenomenon—Except Here

This summer’s soccer World Cup—always the most-watched sporting event on the planet—in Brazil was accompanied by enormous demonstrations, at times violently repressed. Citizens protested the diversion of vast resources from urgent social needs to the building of hugely expensive stadiums, … Continue reading

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Academic Freedom and the Board of Trustees at the U of I: A Historical Perspective

At the panel on academic freedom and free speech across disciplines held in the Beckman Institute on Monday, September 29, one of the panelists, Professor Colleen Murphy, said that the project now must be to make sure that the way in … Continue reading

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The People’s Struggle in El Salvador Continues

For twenty-two years I have been part of a local group engaged in a sister relationship with five impoverished settlements in the mountains of eastern El Salvador. The five settlements are called Calavera. Our local group is called Friends of … Continue reading

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UIUC Report on Hiring of James Kilgore

On Monday, November 10, the Friends of James Kilgore held a press conference outside the Henry Adminstration building on the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign campus. They encouraged the Board of Trustees, meeting this Thursday, to reinstate Dr. Kilgore. After a right-wing … Continue reading

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New MRAP Soon To Be Rolling Down The Streets Of C-U

Earlier this summer, the News-Gazette ran a story that Sheriff Dan Walsh had acquired a Mine-Resistant Armor-Protected (MRAP) vehicle. Titled “Something Big Just Arrived,” the article touted the benefits of the new truck. Yet in the wake of Ferguson, a … Continue reading

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Chuco’s Justice Center in Los Angeles: Home of “College Prep, Not Prison Prep”

In August I travelled to California as part of my research into the use of electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system. My first stop was a converted factory along the border between South Central Los Angeles and Inglewood, Chuco’s … Continue reading

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The Rosenwald Schools

This May I took a trip to Savannah, Georgia, and to the southern coast of South Carolina. In Savannah, I took a “Freedom Tour” that included visits to the oldest Black church, the black cemetery that contains a whip-scarred “whipping … Continue reading

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New Promise Mission at Frances Nelson

Promise Healthcare (Promise) may sound like just another name in the sea of health-care providers we live in, but what it offers is much more than a name, it is a healthcare home, and that is a promise. Promise grew … Continue reading

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Racism and Freedom of Speech: Framing the Issues

Two of the more volatile issues in our society are racism and freedom of speech. This article is about an interesting case that severely divided the American Library Association in the late 1970s, and was recently revived. Readers ought to … Continue reading

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The Assault on Gaza

Throughout the current Israel’s assault on Gaza, President Obama, the Congress, and the media have been sounding off the mantra of “Israel’s right to defend itself” against rockets from Gaza—a self-evident right, if Israel were indeed the innocent victim of … Continue reading

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A Faculty Union at UIUC: the State of Play

Since the first part of this article appeared in the last Public i, UIUC non-tenure track faculty have conducted a six-week card drive, turned in the requisite number of cards mid-May, and after surviving a challenge by UI administration, have … Continue reading

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